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The Knife Junkie Podcast is the place for knife newbies and knife junkies to learn about knives and knife collecting. Twice per week Bob DeMarco talks knives. Email Bob at theknifejunkie@gmail.com; Visit https://theknifejunkie.com.
©2025, Bob DeMarco
The Knife Junkie Podcast
https://theknifejunkie.com

Transcript

Bob DeMarco [00:00:00]:
Coming up, our usual pocket check, a bunch of new products coming out, at SHOT Show this year. And then we're gonna talk about something that's been inspired by American Primeval, a series on Netflix. We're gonna talk about tomahawks and hatchets. I'm Bob DeMarco. This is the Knife Junkie podcast.

Announcer [00:00:21]:
Welcome to the Knife Junkie podcast, your weekly dose of knife news and information about knives and knife collecting. Here's your host, Bob the knife junkie DeMarco.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:34]:
Welcome back to the show. One of my two favorite comments from this past week, and they're all great. Believe me. This comes from, I believe, Calvin Richardson just from the logo in his avatar, woolgrew 1. He said, this is on the Steadfast video. He says, there will be a 7 inch bladed large version of the Steadfast as well. And thank you for the kind words. I was waxing poetic and gushing over his design.

Bob DeMarco [00:00:59]:
I love the WorkTough gear, Steadfast. It has a 5 and a half inch blade and I am really looking forward to and will be buying the 7 inch version. That 7 inch, blade is like the classic, combat, style of blade or size of blade. That's kinda your Ka Bar and your, your Randalls. So to have this really excellent field knife, field slash combat knife, the worked up here, Steadfast, in that size range is, well, it's gonna warm the cockles of my heart. So I look forward to that. Thank you for that comment. And then next was from Nathan Scott 1315 on one of my Bowie Flow videos.

Bob DeMarco [00:01:40]:
And he says, it's not fun if it's not a little dangerous. I don't make the rules, man. And, I love it. I like that comment for a couple of reasons. First of all, is this funny and witty? But also, it's kinda true. Some of the things we do, especially here at the Knife Junkie podcast, and I know all you guys, outdoorsmen and martial artists and stuff, it's all just a little bit dangerous. But that's part of what makes it fun, and also part of what makes it a valuable pursuit. There you go.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:11]:
Alright. Thanks for commenting. Keep watching, keep commenting, keep subscribing, and, keep sharing with friends. That's very, very important. Thank you very much. Now let's get to a pocket check.

Announcer [00:02:24]:
What's in his pocket? Let's find out. Here's the knife junkie with his pocket check of knives.

Bob DeMarco [00:02:32]:
Today in my front right pocket, I had the Resco Instruments, MDCF. That stands stands for Mekong Delta Combat Folder. This was made and designed by well, this was designed, by some old frogmen, some former Navy SEALs, I guess maybe from a slightly different era, perhaps Vietnam because they named this the Mekong Delta Combat Folder. But I really love this thing, and, I am thinking of getting it oh, by the way, Bestech makes it. I always kinda thought it was made by a shoeless navy seal in his basement somewhere in North Carolina. But indeed, it's made by Bestech, one of my favorite manufacturers over, overseas there in China. They do such beautiful work. And this has a real, the real feel of sort of a classic American, titanium frame lock.

Bob DeMarco [00:03:30]:
It has a a hydraulic washer feel to it. I really love the action and, everything about this knife. The one thing I'm not as crazy about, it's Tony CV, by the way. One of the things I'm not as crazy about is it's got a bit of a stout grind behind the behind the edge there. So I'm thinking I might get this reground. Yes. I've been saying that for a long time, but I think I've identified who I would like to regrind this, so I might be doing that and sending the, this up. If I do, I'll show you.

Bob DeMarco [00:04:04]:
But yesterday, we record this show in the morning, so yesterday I was carrying this and it was a range day and I hadn't, you know, I I go shooting with my brother every time I visit him and, I used to go shooting quite a bit and I kinda dropped off around COVID and never really picked back up for me. So, I've resolved to pick that back up and, I went yesterday, haven't lost my touch. I'm not great, but I'm not bad. And it was a lot of fun, so I figured I'd bring, something cool, something unique, just in case knives came up with anyone I saw there. It didn't, they didn't, and, I kept my nose to the grindstone and just shot, and it was a lot of fun. Next, I thought this would be good for utility. I had my Pioneer X, my Victorinox Pioneer X, one of the beautiful 91 millimeter Alox, or 93 millimeter Alox models. Love this thing.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:00]:
Great main blade on this. Also, you know, it's got the usual opening stuff here. The the, can opener with the small screwdriver, and then the screwdriver with the bottle opener, and the wire stripper here. It's got a pair of scissors, let me pull this out. You know what they look like, but it's got the scissors and that's that's what leads to that X designation, because it's kind of X shaped. One of my favorite tools on this right, is right here, their awl. They have 2 different kinds of awls they do with Victorinox. Frequently, you'll see the one that comes out at a 90 degree angle on the bottom of the blip, of the handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:05:40]:
But this one, man, I really like this one. You don't see this as much. But I have this on a little dangler so it just hangs in my pocket, north to south. I don't have to worry about it banging around in the pocket. I can't stand that, that's one thing I, that just sticks in my craw is that, is a slip joint or a knife in my pocket turning sideways like that. Really bums me out. So I got a couple of those Danglers. You can switch them around, from Victorinox to Victorinox, or anything with a bail, basically.

Bob DeMarco [00:06:15]:
And, it's gotten me to carry my Vicks a lot more. Next, in my waistband, I had the, Regiment Blades Loviz. Absolutely love this knife. I I love it a lot more than I even expected I would. And, it's a very easy knife to draw and use intuitively. It's all about that sort of punching motion. El Salvitti, who created this knife, designed it and, had it sort of pilfered, by other interests, but he got the patent back. Anyway, this knife, it or Al Salvidi had a, did a lot of pioneering in power punching.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:00]:
He's a a phenom with, empty handed, fighting and such, and power punching was part of his thing, and this knife kind of came out of that. And one way here, I'm gonna go to the main camera, Jim. One of the things that he showed me how he likes to draw it, you know, it's sitting in the waistband like this, is he draws it and does this motion immediately. It's this quick draw. You pull it out. And by the way, that sort of pistol shaped handle and, finger ring really makes it easy to draw out. But you pull it out and you just go straight in to the face, neck, chest, whatever, but you back it up with this other hand. Not only for, extra power, but also, just in the heat of the moment, to get that hand out of the way.

Bob DeMarco [00:07:45]:
You don't, you know, you might be, pushing the person to create room, but when you draw that knife, he recommends putting that hand back there just to kinda get it out of the way of your own knife, but also add to the stability and power of your thrust. His, he has, double edged. The swedge here is thin enough. You can do that if you have the skills and the machinery. Last up for emotional support, I had the Iridium on me. I absolutely love the Kershaw Iridium and, it also incidentally is the best bar none, bar lock out there. I think it's better than the Axis, it's better than the Able, that's Hogue's, and pretty much every other. Kizer does a great one, but I think it's better than Kizer's.

Bob DeMarco [00:08:35]:
Who knows, maybe it's just my version of the Iridium that has this amazing bar lock, but, I adore it. I love this knife, and I kinda forget about it. It sits in my drawer and I, I forget about it from time to time I pull it out and put it in the back pocket, and it is great. And the thing that reminded me of this is Kershaw has come out with a launch, one of their launch automatics, And it's now the Iridium launch, and it's so good looking, man. I love it. I love the way it looks. It's got a great blade, cuts well, holds, feels really great in hand. So that launch is sure to be a winner.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:13]:
I am very much looking forward to Well, I guess I should get my hands on it. I have this one, but maybe I need that one too. Alright. So this is what I had in my pocket. What did you have in yours? Very interested to find out. I always like hearing what you guys carry. Before we go on to, knife life news, I just wanna ask, have you watched the new Netflix limited series? I think it's, well, it's only 6 episodes, all differently timed. But it's called American Primeval.

Bob DeMarco [00:09:44]:
You've probably seen ads for it. It is so good. It is really good. It's directed by Peter Berg and, I think the guy's name is Mark Smith, who created and wrote it. But Peter Berg is a great director and, this is, it takes place in 1857 Utah Territory and, it's sort of a three way battle between, a three way struggle, we'll say, between the Mormons and, the US Army and, you know, and some settlers. And, man, it is, it is intense. It's very much, it has the feel of Blood Meridian, the Cormac McCarthy book that I always talk about. It's a great, great book and I know a lot of you have read it.

Bob DeMarco [00:10:34]:
But it it's different in plot, but it has that real gritty, unrelenting feel to it. And I won't give you any spoilers, but we watched the last episode, last night, and, it's dark. Check it out. It's really, really, really excellent. I couldn't recommend it more. And, the one of the main characters, this is something my wife and I discussed and, she likes this aspect too. One of the main characters, I guess the main character, though there are a lot of, main characters, but the main character from whose point of view the story is told basically is a woman. And she's trying to go west to meet up with her husband and she's caring for her child, taking her kid with her.

Bob DeMarco [00:11:17]:
And what I love about it is she's, it's not like a, and please don't take offense if you're a lady, but it's not one of these girl power movies, where this woman of this era unrealistically is a total badass and she, and, you know, knocking guys out with one punch and that kind of thing. But she's very strong and she gets stronger. And, that's the same for a number of, the the women characters in this in this movie, in the show. It's just it's tremendous. Highly recommend it. Couldn't recommend it more. And it, it definitely inspired today's little chat about tomahawks and hatchets. So, as does something coming up here at Knifelife News.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:03]:
So we'll get to all of that in a minute. If you wanna help support the show, be sure to go to Patreon. Also, you can like, comment, subscribe. If you hit the notification bell, you find out every time a new one drops. If you don't, just remember, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday. Thursday night knives, of course. You can also download the show to your favorite podcast app, listed right here to my side. Scan the QR code on the screen to get to Patreon, or you can go to the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

Bob DeMarco [00:12:34]:
Again, that's the knifejunkie.com/patreon.

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Announcer [00:13:12]:
You're listening to the Knife Junkie podcast, and now here's the knife junkie with the knife life news.

Bob DeMarco [00:13:18]:
I will also add that Launchcart is an American company, so take advantage. Okay. I'm very excited about this first, feature here in knife life news. I missed this on the first run. I just dragged my feet, and they discontinued the knife. Always remember, if you like it, save up and go for it as quickly as possible because you never know, a, when a blade will be discontinued, or b, a company will be sold or go under, which is crazy. That happens more than we'd like to know. But, Al Mar is back, and not Al Mar himself, rest in peace, a legend in the knife world, but, the Almar Seer knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:01]:
The, survive is, evade, resist, and escape, knife. Very much looking forward to seeing this come back, because this is one of, his most emblematic blades. Again, they are partnering with TOPS for the production of this. It's a 4 inch spear point blade with a beautiful, swedge up front for penetrating tasks. That's 154 centimeters blade steel and TOPS has a, a lot of experience with that stainless, in particular. They're usually, using 1095, but when they go stainless, it's 154. One of my absolute favorite steels. And, I would look for that on tops knives that they expect to be worn close to the body or to be, going through a lot of different rigors.

Bob DeMarco [00:14:52]:
You never know where you will be surviving, evading, resisting, and escaping. Who knows? It could be in a jungle somewhere that's very damp. So, stain resistance is, and, corrosion resistance is a big deal. Three hollow pins there on that, G10, black G10 handle. You can use that for all sorts of lashing and such. Made by TOPS. Very much looking forward to this thing coming out. They also announced a rescue knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:20]:
This was last seen in 2016. That's when it came out. 2016. That's already 7 years ago. If you're my age, it seems like that was just yesterday. But, so look for that, the Elmar seer operator. Next up. This one is very cool from Lionsteel.

Bob DeMarco [00:15:39]:
Now this is a takedown knife. You usually see takedown fixed blades in the custom Bowie, realm. At least that's where I see the most. And a takedown Bowie is something where you can unscrew the pommel nut, and the handle comes off, and the guard comes off, and, you can basically field strip the knife. And in those very fancy and expensive custom Bowie knives, it's not usually for field stripping. It's for, collectability, if you will. You can kind of look at the guts, sort of like taking the handle off of a samurai blade and reading the inscription in the maker maker's mark under the under the handle. Similar kind of concept.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:19]:
Well, here, Lionsteel has the accha. And, they're an Italian company, so it might be aca. I'm not sure how this is really pronounced. I like to think it's more like coming atcha. But this thing is beautiful. First of all, I gotta I gotta, I gotta say I love the profile of this knife. It's just a a beautiful little hunting fixed blade knife. Four inches of M390 blade steel, drop point with a swedge.

Bob DeMarco [00:16:46]:
Love the drop point with a swedge. It's got a very nicely contoured, what do you call it? Burlap micarta handle comes in 3 different colors. But the cool thing about it is that handle is 1 whole piece. It's not scales. It's 1 whole piece. So when you use the specialized tool that comes with it to unscrew the pommel nut, the handle slides off. And in this case, it is a little bit more for field stripping. Imagine this is your hunting knife and you've, you've dressed out a deer or what have you and the blood gets in there.

Bob DeMarco [00:17:20]:
You might just wanna take this thing apart. You can do it right there in the field, wash it off in the creek, put it back together, and, there you have it. And now to me, this seems maybe a little less about, being able to clean this in the field for, you know, because it's necessary and more, kind of, just cool. You get to see what the guts look like. There you go. So that pin, you can see, slides through the pommel nut there and it unscrews off of that threaded tang. The tang itself, is about, 2 thirds full fatness, full width, and then it kinda tapers down to a, or it doesn't taper down. It it jumps down to a more of a rat tail where it screws on.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:08]:
Looks really cool. I think it's a beautiful knife. I'd love to have it. And also the, the leather sheath is sumptuous looking. Also, wanted to mention this other one from LionSteel called the Quattro spelled q4ttr0 q4ttr0. So this is a tribute to the tre, tre, like 3 in Italian. That was a three way opening knife. This is, as you can tell from Quattro, a 4 way opening knife.

Bob DeMarco [00:18:38]:
So you've got a front flipper which you can see in this picture with it closed. That's the method that was missing from the tray. And then you have the hole, the opening hole on the blade so you can middle finger flick it and you can open it 2 handed or, the 4th way, the Quattro way, you can remove, you can use that flipper tab, that, traditional flipper tab. And if you look closely, you can see a little indentation on the bottom of the flipper tab. That allows you to unscrew the tab and remove it if you don't, want it. And that was one of the main, selling points of the tray, is the removable flip o tab. So, that's from Lionsteel Italy. Next up from Buck.

Bob DeMarco [00:19:25]:
They have an exciting new announcement. These are all new announcements from SHOT Show. Their new announcement is the range series of folders, and the range series of folders feature their first ever ambidextrous bar lock. And, if you're wondering what that is, that is the axis style lock. So these, this new range of boulders Yes, it's called the range series. See what I did with the language? This new range of boulders, has the crossbar lock and current generation powder metallurgy steels. They come in 2 sizes, 3.38 inches, that's the standard size or full size, and then the small version is 2.63 inches. They also come in 2 different, what do you wanna call them, tiers of expense.

Bob DeMarco [00:20:17]:
The Elite comes with MagnaCut blade steel. That's a Paul Boss heat treat. And we all know that Paul Boss heat treats, ring out as much performance out of any steel, including 420, which is their usual. So to see what a Paul Boss heat treat on MagnaCut will be, that'll be pretty awesome. That Elite series comes with aluminum handles and then the Pro series, which you see on the screen right here. 154 centimeters blade steel with the Paul Boss heat treat and GFN handles. So, you have 2 different price ranges, 2 different, ranges of material quality. That's what I'm going for.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:01]:
Alright. Enough with the range. That's coming out from Buck. They have a lot of new stuff coming out, so keep your eyes peeled on them. Lastly, this one is crazy and also fits in with our theme today of hatchets and tomahawks. This is the new CRKT Provoke X. Now if you remember the CRKT Provoke, that was the morph morphing karambit designed by custom knife maker and engineer Joe Caswell. Well, this is his morphing, tomahawk or ax.

Bob DeMarco [00:21:33]:
To me, it looks more like a tomahawk as it's got that spike and, and that's, 1.8 6 inch cutting edge on the blade. This to me looks like a weapon, but, I think it's being, marketed as a camper's tool. Just pop this, 8.7 inch closed tomahawk in your pocket and pull it out and and pop it open. See there there it is closed with that loop over pocket clip. That's 8.7 inches long. So a big boy there, but not unpocketable. You can also see that ring very much, reminiscent of the the ring on the Provoke. Of course, on the Provoke, it's a karambit, so that ring is used for your finger.

Bob DeMarco [00:22:16]:
This is this is more, placed as a pommel or a or a hand stop at the end of the half of this tomahawk when it's opened. I did see Joe Caswell, posted a video of him opening it, and I hadn't seen or heard about this yet, and I was like, oh, what? That looks really cool. I'm I'm very much, very excited about it. A cool thing too on the flip side of what you're seeing, on this picture that's on screen, the way you unlock it is, or maybe that's it right there, that little button, but it's the, Flavio Icoma dead bolt pivot lock system here that holds it open and closed. And the pivot lock is cool. The, the dead bolt has 2 plunging bolts that go through 2 holes. So it's a it's sort of a double safe, locking system. So very cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:14]:
Looking forward to getting my hands on this. I mean, whether I will own it or not, I'm not sure, but I sure would like to. It seems like, unique enough but also, kinda cool and tactical enough that I might wanna have it in my collection. You know that's just my taste. I'm not a tactical guy. I just like the knives and the weaponry. Alright. That just about does it for, knife life news.

Bob DeMarco [00:23:40]:
Keep your eyes peeled on on, knife news. So great, the way they cover SHOT Show and Blade Show and all those, different shows. And I love Ben Schwartz's writing. I mention that all the time. No one can write about a crossbar lock in a new and different way every week like Ben Schwartz can. Okay. So still to come, we have, state of the collection, but, there is, I want you to make sure, that you like, subscribe, notify, share, and there was something else I was gonna mention, but I think I'm forgetting it. So, we'll get the state of the collection right after this message.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:22]:
Adventure delivered.

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And now that we're caught up with knife life news, let's hear more of the Knife Junkie podcast.

Bob DeMarco [00:24:41]:
So I have nothing new this week, but since we're going into tomahawks and hatchets in a minute, I wanna show off q that didn't quite make the cut here, but I wanna show off. And the first one is this Estwing camp hacks. This was bought, for me for one of my birthdays from a friend of mine, and, it's resided in my closet like it's a defensive battle ax, next to the next to the boomstick and a couple of Bowie knives. And I realized that I had forgotten it's in there and now I'm more in a part of my life where I'm using axes just because I'm making more fires and just having more fun in the back, with that kind of activity, that I decided I'd I'd pull this out. But before I put it into, action, I wanted to show it off. I was looking up what steel Estwing uses. This is a full tang steel axe, all integral here. And actually, it's got a a hammer pull on the back.

Bob DeMarco [00:25:43]:
And if you look at it from this aspect, it it's actually, kind of hollow ground in a way. It looks to me less like something you're chopping wood with, more like something you're fighting with because of how slender it is. But, maybe that's just the lens through which I look at most things. But a cool thing about this is that it's got this this, sort of, rubbery grip, but it also has this section here, which I have wrapped in, in, electrician's tape. It just makes it a little grippier. But it absorbs the shock. So this thing, you can apparently go to town with and it will absorb all the shock in a different sort of way than just a hickory handle, embedded in or hung on a on an axe head. So I'm I'm gonna take this out again.

Bob DeMarco [00:26:37]:
I know I've used it. I know I've sharpened it. It's wickedly sharp. I'm gonna start using this and, you know, really, really take it out and see what it can do. I looked up the kind of steel I started to talk about, and they just call it solid American steel. So I like that. It's solid American steel. The other one that doesn't quite make the cut for our tomahawks and hatchets, talk coming up, is the one that gets has gotten more use than anything here.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:08]:
And, it's this. It's it's my this is out of the way, actually. This is my Home Depot purchase from when we first moved into this house, 13 years ago. Oh, by the way, the Estwing comes with a beautiful, nicely engraved, and very stout full grain leather sheath. I'm just gonna do that so I don't cut myself. But this this here, this is a Rock Forge hand pads. And, I I frankly had to look up what it is, who made it. And then I saw on the on the hickory handle here, it says Rock Forge.

Bob DeMarco [00:27:48]:
But when I looked it up, man, this has gotten so many bad reviews. People hated this. It's discontinued, I believe, and you can't buy it certainly can't buy it at, Home Depot, but I think that Rock Forge isn't even making it anymore. People hated this thing, but I love it. A lot of people complained about how the handle broke on them, and, which is strange. I don't know. I mean, because they were talking about it, cracking in the in the middle of the half as opposed to, say, up here at the ax eye, which is where I would expect. I have used and abused this thing and given it very little love, as you can tell.

Bob DeMarco [00:28:27]:
There's a little bit of red rust, on it. It it sits in a bin, where I keep my fire poker and a saw and several other tools, but it it just kinda sits on the back porch. It it it gets no love, but I I'm gonna I'm gonna sharpen her up and, try and clean up the axe head a little bit, because I've had nothing but great experience with this. It works really well, and, it's great for for making kindling of logs about this big. I don't know, 6 or, you know, you can get a full yawning split with this, just just from bringing it down hard. Now this one, I'm glad it's not super sharp, because there have been a couple of times where I haven't held on tightly enough and it's come out of my hand because I'm not paying attention and hit my leg and, or hit my boot. And if it were super knife sharp, it would've, it would've done a lot more damage than it did. So, two lessons from this.

Bob DeMarco [00:29:32]:
First of all, not every lemon is a lemon. And second of all, hold onto your ax tightly. That's that's what I would say. But, yeah, I I Me personally can't say enough about this. It is great. Now that said, I hope it doesn't start breaking on me. And last, oh. Well, I was gonna show off, but I left it over there on my workbench because I guess I did a little bit of late night sharpening last night.

Bob DeMarco [00:30:03]:
But, the Lansky Puck, this is what I would recommend you get to sharpen your axes. The Lansky Puck is a dual grit sharpener, which the name, would beli is puck shaped. It's it's round and flat and it's got a course and a medium side. And you just sort of hold your ax like this, or, you know, you you might have different ways of holding it, but you wanna look down at it, and you take the puck, we'll use this knife junky coaster, and you and you do you move in circular motions like this with that puck. Now, I also know that some people use files and and sharpen. There there's more more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak, but with that Lansky sharpener, it's great. I've gotten, a number of the ones we're about to look at sharp. I have sharpened that, the, the big s wing I showed you, and then the ax that I keep in my shed, which is nothing to look at, I've sharpened up sharpened them all with that.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:11]:
So, really great thing to have if you have a hatchet and need to put an edge on it. Alright. Let's talk about tomahawks and hatchets. But first, go and check out our merchandise, shop on the knifejunkie.com/shop. The sharpest minds collect knives. This is our latest, I should say it's not our latest. It's Jim's latest because he is a phenom at designing T shirts and coming up with snappy, snappy, witticisms. And I love this.

Bob DeMarco [00:31:44]:
The sharpest minds collect knives. So go there, check out the bevy of t shirts we have there, pages and pages of really awesome t shirts, but also other stuff, that you can get, Knife Junkie, and represent your junkiedom, right there. So the knifejunkie.com/job. Alright. Let's get to it. First up, as you may expect, cold steel. Yep. My first tomahawk was this one right here.

Bob DeMarco [00:32:16]:
This is the Norse Tomahawk from Cold Steel. I've done a bunch of things to it. First of all, with Cold Steel, they, whether it's a, screw, actually, this is a screw I put in there, but, there's always a hole, a threaded hole, and then a, Allen key sort of bolt that you you put in there. It friction fits. It's, the the head of the cold steel tomahawks slide down the thin end, the pommel end, and then friction fit up here, and then you you mechanically connect it with some sort of a thing. For me, the the screw that originally came with it, the bolt that originally came with it, broke or was otherwise lost, so I ended up just driving a screw in there. And then after watching the Vikings series on history, which I really love, and they all talk like this, the Vikings, I decided I would coat my blade with brown and dark red. There's dark red here.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:22]:
I don't know if you can see it to make it look. Yes. I know. I'm corny to make it look like a blood stained, Norse Tomahawk or or Viking ax. They were great at using the ax. That was their main sidearm and the real, royal or rich ones had swords and stuff. But mostly, this was the kind of weapon that Tomahawks, weapon the Vikings used. I also wrapped it in paracord for good grip.

Bob DeMarco [00:33:49]:
But it's interesting to see how, the wood, you know, has shrunk a little bit or. Yeah. How it shrunk shrank, I guess. I also epoxied under there, so I need to get in there and restain. So it doesn't look like, like I'm just a suburban dad who tried to make his ax look really badass here, which isn't far from the truth. I put a hole there, which was not easy, you know, for a lanyard, which I have since removed. But drilling into this American hickory is not easy. So Cold Steel uses 1055 bicarbon steel here.

Bob DeMarco [00:34:29]:
So I'm gonna put this down, and I'll show you my other Cold Steel right here. This has gotten very little use, at all. Actually, I started a project and then I I dropped it and I will come back to it at some point, but it was a project that was inspired by Zach Wingard who suggested buying this and then and then, grinding it down and making it super thin. I kinda lost interest a few minutes into it, but I'll get back to it at some point. Again, beautiful American hickory handle here. All of these have hickory. It's just the best and stoutest steel for, I mean, wood for this kind of thing. Tomahawk or hatchet.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:16]:
But this is a spike hawk, much like the Iroquois spike hawks. And, you've got a blade here that's about 2 and a half, 2 and 3 quarters inches long. They come super dull. This one I have not even sharpened. This one I have sharpened a lot. This one's very sharp. This one needs an edge on it, but I bought it because I love the spikes. I like spikes on things.

Bob DeMarco [00:35:42]:
I like warhammers and, spike tomahawks. This does not need an edge. This just needs a little power behind it, and it's going into whatever you're, you're, you're trying to make a hole in. So maybe actually after we have this little talk, I'll, I'll put an edge on this and start. I don't know how you're going to use it, Bob. I don't know, but, at least make it ready to use. And, since I jacked up the coating, I'll probably just continue to remove that and, use it. So just this is the size.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:16]:
They come in 2 different sizes here. Pop it like this. The Norse and the spike. They also have a rifleman's hawk. That's really cool. A woodman's hawk. They have a lot of tomahawks and, hatchets over there and cold steel. So definitely, if you're interested and you want sort of a budget tomahawk, I say they are the way to go.

Bob DeMarco [00:36:40]:
This next one is definitely not a budget tomahawk, but it is one of my prized prized possessions in in my, in my collection here. This is an Elmer Rouge custom, spike hawk. Again, sort of Iroquois, or northeast woodland style spike tomahawk. It's a beauty. I got this at 2022 blade show, and, man, it's just beautiful to look at. Elmer Rouge is a very famed blacksmith who specializes in, axes, tomahawks, and hammers. I believe he also makes hammers. And, I got this from the man himself.

Bob DeMarco [00:37:27]:
I've invited him on the show numerous times and he said he wanted to come on, but, we've never been able to work that out, I e, he's never really responded to my invite. But when I spoke to him in person, I thought how fascinating it would be to have this guy on. He's so highly respected in, in this world of axes, tomahawks, and blacksmithing. First of all, let me talk about the handle. It's a beautiful, again, hickory handle, but, this had is impregnated with with, mineral oil, I believe, and beeswax. And then blasted with a blowtorch and burned. We'll see that later in the Wingard wearables, tomahawks as well. And then the head itself is a, milder feel with, a scarf welded, which is cool.

Bob DeMarco [00:38:21]:
I'll tell you what that is in a sec. To this 1095 or not 1095, 1090 tool steel on the on the blade and on the spike. So the center is a softer steel that can absorb a lot of impact. And then on the edges and on the tip of this, spike, you have a much harder and hardened 10 90 tool steel. And scarf welding, as he explained it to me, is basically he does it all with his hammer and he'll have, the, the milder steel kind of yawning open like this. And then we'll take the, the tool steel, put it in between, and it's super bright, you know, and then, meaning super hot, and then I'll just hammer it together. So that's scarf welded together. It's got a nice edge.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:13]:
Not bad at all. I could I could make it a little bit sharper, but that isn't necessarily the point, is to have something slicey like a knife. You see this one hanging on the wall next to me all the time. And, if someone rushed in here, and it turned into a tomahawk fight, I would grab this, if if other things weren't available that were a little more ballistic, but I would grab this and, go to town. I might use the spike to draw him closer to me and then turn it around and use the ax to finish him off. You know, That's how it usually plays out in my tomahawk bites. Uh-huh. And for sensors, etcetera, that is a joke, of course.

Bob DeMarco [00:39:57]:
Beautiful. And this thing feels so light. It's so nice. It feels great. You know what? As opposed to the, cold steel spike hawk, which, you know, is is it's just not a custom Elmer Rouge. So it's it's a lot thicker in all dimensions and doesn't quite move as well. But this is definitely a a weapon. This is definitely, secondarily a tool, and, I love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:40:27]:
And then you can see that the mid here has been hung as opposed to friction fit where it slides down and then you fasten it. It is, it goes on this way, like a traditional ax, and then you've got hickory wedge, a hickory wedge in there, holding it in. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful piece. I'll put this one down here. Next up, beautiful hatchet. So what's the difference between a hatchet and a tomahawk? Well, a tomahawk is is definitely more, of a weapon, and the hatchet is more of a small ax or axelike paths. That's how I break it down. So here, this is a Helkowerk Helkowerk from Germany.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:16]:
And this is the, Pathfinder Hatchet. This was a very generous gift from, an old friend of mine, a great dude. Thank you, Mike. I I love this. And actually, for a number of years, first of all, very nice leather sheath. For a number of years, this was just a wall hanger. And I just kept it because it was a beautiful, beautiful thing. And then recently, I started taking it out and using it.

Bob DeMarco [00:41:45]:
I did have to put an edge on it. I've got a pretty good edge on it. I wanna keep sharpening, keep at it. But as you can see, compared to, say the Elmer Rouge, Tomahawk, it's got a much thicker, more wedge like profile, that is for splitting wood and, and, making kindling and stuff. Whereas the thin blade here, and you can see the seam down the center of this, by the way. But the thin blade here is more for fighting and slashing and embedding in soft tissue or in skulls and that kind of thing. This is definitely more for splitting and chopping. This has, though it's German, it does have an an American hickory handle.

Bob DeMarco [00:42:29]:
See? No one grows hickory like America. And, it's got that, stout wedge like blade. But on the other side, it's got an extension, which is, like a hammer pole used for pounding intense stakes or that kind of thing. So this is a great camp ax. It's pretty small. It's got a, a 13 inches handle here or a haft, and so it's something you can pack. Now it is a bit heavy, I gotta say, which inspired my my getting the next one, which is a little bit lighter, but I'll show you that in a sec. And, so this is C50 high carbon steel with an HRC of 53 to 56.

Bob DeMarco [00:43:14]:
I don't have that information on all of these, but Helcovirq, their website has a lot of information on it. It's a really nice website. And a cool thing about this company is that, they sell a heritage line that looks it's got more brute to forge. It's kind of a rougher looking thing. I mean, very well refined profiles and such, but the blades themselves or the bits themselves look different. I like the shine on this. Does make it go through material better, theoretically, but, I love the, the way the the more rugged and, what am I trying to say? Well, their old fashioned line, looks really cool. Also, hatchets and axes have this sort of pommel here at the end of the half.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:07]:
Something of a flare where your hand can grab on when you're, when you're driving this into, driving this down onto wood or something that's gonna shock. Tomahawks do not. The tomahawk will, will almost always paper down so you can slide it in your belt or throw it without, any hang up at the end of the half. I, this is highly recommended, really nice sheath. I love this thing. And again, thank you, Mike. I know he doesn't watch the show, but thanks anyway. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:44:45]:
Next up. So this was a gift from my daughters. I am very much at my direction. They got this for me for Christmas. This is the this also was recommended by someone on Thursday night knives. This is the council tool Hudson Bay apps or hatchet, I should say. The Hudson Bay hatchet. And, it is nice and light.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:09]:
It's about that same length as the Helkover, but it's got a different feel to it. The American hickory handle is much more slender, and it is lighter. This would be an easier one to pack. It does not come with a sheath, though I would like to get one for it. But also it has that extended back end, which acts as a hammer pole. And, so you can pound in your tent stakes or, that, you know, that kind of thing. Cool little bit of history about this. The pattern is thought to have originated in the Biscayan.

Bob DeMarco [00:45:47]:
I I'm not sure if that's, how it's pronounced, b I s c a y a n, in Northern Spain, near France. So I think that might be the Basque region. French traders used this hand axe as a trade tool in their dealings with Native Americans for fur and other commodities in the Hudson Bay area, Saint Lawrence River, and other trade routes. And, so I love the Hudson Bay knife. I love that whole Raider I don't know. I need to start reading some books about that era. I love The Revenant so much. That movie just man, I love it.

Bob DeMarco [00:46:24]:
And that's kind of the era they're talking about, or the era that that took place in. And, so I need to find out more about it. But I do know that the Hudson Bay, axe pattern is this. You'll you'll see, as opposed to, as opposed to this more straight look here with the beard, this, you know, this kinda flares out evenly on the top and the bottom, the Helkoverk, and not very extremely. Whereas the Hudson Bay style of of, ax bit Drops down. It's got quite a beard, but the beard isn't curved like you see on the Norris Hawk. It's just a straight line there. And, it gives you a lot of cutting edge And puts a lot of the cutting edge lower, as low on the weight of the bit as possible.

Bob DeMarco [00:47:19]:
So you're getting a lot of just a lot of chopping chopping power. And I can say that, anecdotally because I've begun to use this one, as you can see, just on the, the wood I use for our fire pit out back. I really like this one. I'm very, I'm happy with it. As a matter of fact, I like it better than the Helco Werk, in terms of just how it, how it feels in hand and how it, how it works. It's a little less wedge like. It came with a better edge, so I don't have to do much to it, And, yeah, it's just been working great. Next, we're gonna shift gears, back to the Tomahawk, and this is from a modern Tomahawk maker.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:04]:
It is the Wingard Wearables Back Ripper. You know, I've shown this one a lot. This one lives on my desk, so if the El Marouche is out of reach, I'll just grab this. This is so light. It's the lightest thing on the table. The only thing possibly lighter is another Wingard wearable, and that's a big part of Zach Wingard's mission with making these. The other is to make them, yes, wearable. So this has a curve to the blade, that back, ripper blade here, so that with the Kydex safety carry sheet here, you can put this in your pants and it will ride down your leg.

Bob DeMarco [00:48:49]:
The, the haft will go down your leg, and that curve follows the curve of your body. I know it's kind of a weird concept, but it it works. I don't carry it like that. I don't I'm not an ED seer of tomahawks, but I love that it works. And putting the curve in that, back ripper blade really, adds to its, effectiveness, let's say. And you can see that through, practicing on ta on, pumpkins or watermelons. It just leaves a a very large and curved cut. Now this is sort of inspired by the spike tomahawk, but he flattened out the spike and turned it into a blade.

Bob DeMarco [00:49:35]:
So you have a very, very sharp inner portion of this, curved blade here and, and then a very pointy tip. Here you have an inch and a half blade downward facing like that, canted downward. And, much like a kukri or a Filipino blade with the downward can't, it aids in, getting the blade there early, a and b, following that motion, that natural motion, arching motion of your elbow, shoulder, wrist, and presenting the most edge every time you you hit. So he does say that this can be used for, for hunting tasks and very light, chopping tasks, but this is not meant for, for that. This is meant as a defensive weapon that carry on you every day. American hickory straight grain, halved here. And then you can see he heats up a file and burns it. He also rubs this with a beeswax, I believe, to get that color.

Bob DeMarco [00:50:50]:
So light, fast, and utterly, utterly nasty, if you need that sort of a thing. I don't need that sort of a thing. I just like that sort of a thing, so I have it here in my collection. He makes for of this and all of his other, or a new number of other tomahawks, he makes a shortened version of it. This is a 16 inch. He makes a 13 inch, and instead of having it flare out at at the, bottom of the haft, he has it taper down into a more of a wedge so that you can slip it in MOLLE, MOLLE gear. So it's compatible with, with moly laden, gear there. So you can just slide that in there.

Bob DeMarco [00:51:36]:
Very, very cool. I love the uniqueness. I love the efficacy, and, I love the lightness of these tomahawks. That's something he talks about a lot. He Zach Wingard is an expert in tomahawks. He's studied every aspect of them, and he says the real defining feature of, say, a North American, woodland tomahawk is their quick lightness, their your ability to change direction with them as you're fighting. Whereas some of the heavier, more axelike tomahawks just aren't as responsive and facile as something like this. Alright.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:21]:
Next up from Zach and Wingard wearable is the Stingray tomahawk. The Stingray tomahawk. Again, you've got that straight grain American hickory handle with the with the burn in pattern. I have thrown mine and, gouged it, and now I regret throwing it. But this is meant, this is a, in earnest, a Spike Tomahawk. And unlike most Wingard wearables, it doesn't have that curve in it. But it does come with, a kydex safety, cover, with shock cord. So you can hang this.

Bob DeMarco [00:52:57]:
This works better, like in a shoulder position under the, under the armpit. And you can watch some of his videos showing how he carries these and how quickly he can remove them. And with some practice, you can too, how he can remove them from, from the holsters and something I forgot to mention in this, I just want to show and I'll show it on all of these is he takes great pride in how he hangs the, the head on the haft here. So again, this is not sliding down and friction fitting. It is fitting on top and he has 2 wedges of hickory, one going this way and one going that way. And then it's also epoxied in there with some sort of natural tar like epoxy. So he's done the same thing here. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention, and I'll do that again.

Bob DeMarco [00:53:52]:
This is hand forged. W one tool steel here, hand forged w one tool steel on the back rope. On the Stingray, it's cast. This is cast 5160 at, 59 HRC. And so this was developed for throwing and, you can watch him throw this. He does a beautiful job with it. And, to, to avoid any sort of damage to yourself, this is how he recommends you throw it. So he has it butted up against his, shoulder like this and then throws it from this position.

Bob DeMarco [00:54:33]:
And it's weighted in such a way that you'll either get the spike or you'll get the blade. But either way, it makes for a great thrower. Now, how do I do it? I didn't wanna throw this into a tree. I had a door I was throwing it at, and, that's not the way to go. It was a very solid door, and, I hit it a couple of times wrong, and and I just decided not. But I could bring this into the woods and throw it a tree, and we just have to be careful because there are people in those woods. So the same, same, way of hanging it here, except on the inside, on the eye here, he's got some sharp flanges that dig into that hickory as it's pounded on top. And then another wedge stuck in there.

Bob DeMarco [00:55:21]:
I keep this in my dresser, top dresser drawer. This is definitely, well, for me not so much a thrower as it is just a nasty, spike hog. It's got, not a point, but more of a wedge up front. So that thing is nice and sharp. You're going through pretty much anything you wanted to, with minimal effort. And then the shape of that axe head it's shaped in such a way that it will, that, semi circle, semi circular edge will go right into what you're chopping into. And then these, are shaped in a convex, convex manner so that it slips back out. So say you've chopped it into say a pumpkin, or a, turkey or something.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:15]:
As you pull it back out, it doesn't get hung up because these are concave. So very a lot of thought and research goes into the development of these and, the design of these. There's his w, maker's mark. So last from Wingard Wearables. This is my bedside tomahawk, and let's be honest, we all have no of those. This is the Empress. This is, this is the lightest of them all, actually. This feels super light in hand.

Bob DeMarco [00:56:47]:
It's a stained American Hickory straight grain handle yet again. But down at the bottom, he's done something different. This point down here can really be used, for pain compliance or, it will go through a lot of different things. So that sharpened punyo is there for for added discomfort, but then it's also shaped to fit the palm of the hand and, catch on the pinky. So you have a really nice, pommel there, an area for holding onto this thing. This is a spontoon hawk. And a spontoon hawk, traditionally has a blade shaped blade as opposed to an axe head shaped, blade. So, this here is modeled after a Megalodon tooth.

Bob DeMarco [00:57:41]:
It's a little bit rounded on top, very sharp on the bottom, and then flat on this side. So, yeah, shaped like the, like nature's spontoon. And then it has that flattened spike blade on the back. So again, the inside part of that curve is nice and sharp. It's got a very pointy point and then it's the whole thing is curved so that you can wear it in your pants and have that, kinda wrap around your waist. Again, hung with the, cross wedges there. Or is this a single? No. It's a cross wedge.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:19]:
And then also with that sort of natural epoxy in there. This is Wicked. It is made from cast silicone bronze. So this one is not steel unlike the other 2. It is cast bronze. I can't remember. He explained to me why he did the bronze, and I don't remember. I think it had to do with lightness to strength to I don't know.

Bob DeMarco [00:58:41]:
He had his reasons. So check out my interviews with him, and he explains it. Really nice. I see him take this on vacation with him, and he'll go diving, he'll go diving with it. If you follow, Wingard Wearables on Instagram, you'll see him cracking coconuts with this underwater. He does all sorts of crazy stuff, but, a very, very cool, implement of chaos there. Alright. Penultimate in this list was given to me by the great Alan Alishowetz, and this is his design for Hogue.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:14]:
This is the EXT01. And this is light and fast, especially for a full tang tomahawk. Full tang tomahawks tend to be heavy due to the all of the steel, you know, but this has a real nice feel. It is what kind of steel is this? This is s 7 tool steel, and then you have this nicely fluted and grippy g 10 on the handle scales here. I think that this is nice and light because there's a huge hole cut out of there. Very sharp blade. I mean, the most of all of these, the most blade like of, a blade here. And this is, you're not using this to split wood or anything.

Bob DeMarco [00:59:57]:
This is definitely just a weapon. And you have a great, pommel area or bottom of the haft, with that bird's beak, really keeps it in your hand. And then this curve here allows it to bounce off your palm comfortably. You've got a lanyard hole and a really cool way to carry it. So you've got this curved paddle that goes in the waistband here. And then this just is magnetized. And then you just put that mechanical safety down. I need to integrate this somehow into my life.

Bob DeMarco [01:00:35]:
This has kind of been sitting in the collection drawer, and, when I went through my tomahawks to decide what I would be showing off, I was like, why am I keeping this under wraps? This deserves to be out and about. So, I'm gonna, I don't know where this is gonna go, but, I'm gonna bring this out into the house and have it be a a house protection tomahawk somewhere. You know, you gotta you gotta stash these things around so that if you need a tomahawk, you can just reach out and grab one. Alright. Last up, I got this one, this beauty, at the Texas Custom Knife Show, 2 years ago in November, and it is gorgeous. This is from Bravehawk Forge, and it is a Francesca. Francesca is a French, let's see. Let me see if I, I don't have a duck.

Bob DeMarco [01:01:28]:
Okay, so it's a, a French tomahawk used for throwing and combat in the, I don't remember when. I I just looked it up before and it, escaped straight grain American hickory with a tapered handle. That tapered handle adds to, the throwing capabilities. So your your your hand just slips off as you throw it, like so. And this thing throws really well, though I haven't thrown this one. I threw one that they had, that Bravehawk Forge had at their booth. They also had a tomahawk throwing, booth, and I tried this out, and it sticks great. You don't have to have any skill because I don't definitely don't have any skill, with throwing tomahawks, but this worked great.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:18]:
So maybe it's the maybe it's the tomahawks I've chosen to throw, that are the issue. Not sure. But again, this is a milder steel, and then, welded not welded, but, what do you call it? Yeah. I guess it's sort of welded, forge welded. That's what I'm trying to get at. Forge welded onto the end is, 1095, and this thing is a beauty. Actually, I'm gonna correct myself. I believe this is all 1095.

Bob DeMarco [01:02:50]:
But all done in the old fashioned way in the forge, and, friction hung on there. And the idea behind this is they have a whole bunch of different halves. You're gonna throw it, the halves will break, the halves will fall off, or what have you, and you just drop another one in there and you're good to go. Or if you're, if you're out there in the woods and you're surviving and something happens to your half, you just get another piece of wood and fashion it and hang it on. Head is the most important part. Brave Hawk Forged. Love that thing. The Francesca.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:25]:
Alright. Thanks for joining me here on this, little chat about tomahawks and hatchets. Do you guys like tomahawks and hatchets? Are they as knife adjacent as I feel they are? I mean, I kinda feel like they just fit into the whole world here of knives, swords, machetes, etcetera. Let me know what you think, and also let me know what your favorites are. Drop it in the comments below. Maybe I'll read it next week. Alright, everybody. Thanks a lot for Jim working his magic behind the switcher.

Bob DeMarco [01:03:53]:
I'm Bob DeMarco saying, until next time, don't take dull for an answer.

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